Man accused of peeping at Seminole deputy's daughters

LAKE MARY -- Seminole County Deputy Sheriff Neal Fowler was walking his dog after work Wednesday evening, still dressed in his uniform, when something caught his eye.

There, in the bushes at Pebble Creek Apartments, was a man dressed in black, his hands cupping his face, which was pressed against the window of an apartment.

Fowler approached the man, identified as Ismael Rivera, 19, of Lake Mary, and shined his flashlight on him. The man continued to look into the window of the bedroom, occupied by two sisters, 9 and 11.

This wasn't just any apartment, and those weren't just any two little girls. It was Fowler's home, and they were his daughters.

Fowler held Rivera until another deputy arrived to make the arrest. Rivera told deputies he was at the apartment complex to visit a friend, but he could not provide the friend's name or an address, Deputy Barbara Kay Lense wrote in her arrest report.

Deputies think Rivera, who lives about a quarter-mile away on Shipman's Lane, rode to the apartments on a bicycle. The bike was found on the ground near where he was standing.

Rivera was taken to the Seminole County Jail, accused of loitering, prowling and voyeurism. He is being held on $50,000 bail.

The girls were extremely frightened, Lense said, "and have pleaded with their parents to immediately move from the apartment complex because they are afraid to sleep in their bedroom."